Is this another scam method by seller - would you buy?

[NRG]

I need your opinion on this potential purchase.

The owner is selling his NSX, but the title is under a company called ABC. He requested that I have my bank write the check to ABC.

In the past, I have dealt with private owner name or a bank institution on the pink slip (title).

Am I doing the right thing by having a check written to a company called ABC? Would you buy a car from this seller? What kind of proof do I know if this company is even related to him/her? What would you do?

Any advice will be grateful...

Thanks,

 

[djdrock]

Fill us in on a few more details. Have you seen the car yet? Have you met the owner? Have you checked to see if ABC has a phone number or is a registered car dealer, or is ABC just a company that has the car titled? Have you ran a carfax to see if any registration details match with the story of the seller?

 

[NRG]

No, I haven't seen the car yet but only pictures. I'm planning to fly out to check the car in person.

I haven't met the owner but spoken to the person via phone and email thread.

ABC has an address and phone number. The seller is a private owner, but the car is titled and registered to his company's name.

Yes, the carfax looks clean.

Fill us in on a few more details. Have you seen the car yet? Have you met the owner? Have you checked to see if ABC has a phone number or is a registered car dealer, or is ABC just a company that has the car titled? Have you ran a carfax to see if any registration details match with the story of the seller?

 

[nsxtasy]

Have you checked to see if ABC has a phone number or is a registered car dealer, or is ABC just a company that has the car titled?

Also check to see if ABC is a "bricks and mortar" company (i.e. one with physical facilities and assets).

Have you ran a carfax to see if any registration details match with the story of the seller?

Good idea.

Have you (or someone, i.e. dealer, NSXprime member, etc) inspected the car in person, to verify that the person you are dealing with actually owns it and has access to it?

 

[mateo91181]

If I understand you correctly it is registered to the owners business. The owner owns ABC. I had a friend whos dad owned his own business and he registered his cars to the business name. Im not sure the details but I believe it is some sort of a tax write off. I would make sure you cover yourself, but I would not let that deter me from the sale.

 

[Daedalus]

Agreed. I would ask for a fax of the pink slip before flying out there. If he has the title in hand and Carfax is good, it sounds legit. The company is just selling one of their assets to you.

 

[NRG]

Thanks for everyone's feedback!

 

[TAG]

Do yourself a huge favor and try to have an NSX Prime member check out the car for you. I just flew 2000 miles across the U.S. to check out an NSX w/ an automatic transmission, and wasted $600 doing so. It was purported to be mint condition "you won't find a cleaner one than this" type of thing.

The car exterior looked good from a distance, and the seats were ok, but the dash was cracked in several places and had several other issues with the interior. I had the car inspected by the local Acura dealer, and they came up with a list of MAJOR mechanical issues that would cost $10,000+ to fix just to make the car roadworthy!!! Not to mention the fact that the car had body damage in two places, that was poorly repaired.

Let me stress the fact that this information was not disclosed by the owner, and I know for a fact that he had knowledge of ALL the problems prior to my trip. The only plus side to this is that I followed the guidelines on purchasing an NSX (available from this website), and did not purchase the car. Not buying this car saved me the cost of the trip ten times over.

Bottom line; if you have $600. or so that you won't mind throwing away, make the trip. Remember if you fly out there and don’t by the car, a seller like this one looses nothing, he simply waits for another buyer to come along, who did NOT check the car out properly.

 

[martini-1]

Where is the car located? What is the owners name of the company? I have had a similar situation and had a clean car fax but the car still had problems and was in a accident. If you give the person's name, maybe someone might recognize him/her and be able to give you input.

 

[NsXMas]

The car could be a tax write-off, so I wouldn't be too worried over that.

Make sure you do a Carfax. Also, you may want to contact the DMV where the car is registered, to make sure the title is clean and transferrable.

You can also ask a Prime member here to check it out.

Good luck!!

 

[martini-1]

I hate to keep bringing this up but I have NO confidence in carfax. You can do one but I would not put full trust that it is accurate. I speak from experience on two different cars that I traveled across the country for and both had a clean car fax but when I arrived, they had major frame damage that was never reported. Be careful.

 

[djdrock]

I hate to keep bringing this up but I have NO confidence in carfax. You can do one but I would not put full trust that it is accurate. I speak from experience on two different cars that I traveled across the country for and both had a clean car fax but when I arrived, they had major frame damage that was never reported. Be careful.

I will second that. My MR2 Spyder that I used to own had some minor damage when I hit a semi tire on the interstate, but did some hefty damage to the front end and a little on the side, and a year later, nothing shows on carfax.

 

[NsXMas]

I hate to keep bringing this up but I have NO confidence in carfax. You can do one but I would not put full trust that it is accurate. I speak from experience on two different cars that I traveled across the country for and both had a clean car fax but when I arrived, they had major frame damage that was never reported. Be careful.

I don't disagree, but it is nevertheless a good idea to run the carfax to get all available information.